flick of the wrist

full speed ahead 'til I'm dead in the fast lane

So here's the thing.

Jack nearly drowned a few weeks ago, and he's not all about that. And while what he's looking for to remedy that situation is something he might trade for in Haulani, sometimes you just like to do this shit yourself. That and maybe he's still a little salty about the Ark being headbutted by ghost whales, and he wants to take it out on something

But the smuggler is more about dirty fighting and knife tricks, and so he's roped in some help in the form of their newest crew member. She needs to get to grips with the islands anyway. So here they are, trekking along the cliffsides below the Aumakua lighthouse, Jack armed with a few weighted nets and a couple of bamboo spears.

"Cloud manta," he explains, padding barefoot over the rocks and sand, "are fuckin' delicious. They also possess jewels in their forehead that allow the wearer to breathe underwater. You can imagine why they're on the unfortunate end of the food chain in Torchline." The dual characteristics of tasty and useful are a bad combo, really.

eyes can't shine unless there's something burning bright behind

So there they were. Aurelia wasn't shy to help when Jack had asked for it, agreeing to whatever task he had in store. Although, since joining the crew, Aurelia somehow did not ever imagine she'd be following after a barefoot Jack in search of... "What? Cloud manta?" Her dark brows scrunched together, as they usually did. Contrarily, she kept her boots on for this. They were well-worn and very flexible, in her defense, and they could survive a dunk or two.

As surreal as it was, she listened to him keenly. It was probably hard for him to tell, though, since her gaze was everywhere but on him. She'd yet to be this side of Torchline, and she wasn't too sure she knew what he was talking about. She had run into something strange before, though... on one of her ventures near the docks. Could it be he was talking about the same thing?

"I've never heard of anything like that. So... we're gonna kill them for the jewels... that are in their heads... so that we can wear them... on our heads?" she glanced at him to make sure she was following all this correctly. She looked over the nets and spears he was carrying. "Got it..." she smirked at him, "hey, you know what?" She made a show of looking at his feet, teasing, "It's a little weird seeing you without boots on."

She looked out over the ocean and asked, "Anyways. Where do you want to start?"

Aurelia

full speed ahead 'til I'm dead in the fast lane

On the contrary - it's pretty easy for Jack to tell, which is probably one of the only reasons he's not snapping his fingers obnoxiously in front of her face to get her to pay attention. "Cloud manta," he repeats, pointing off in the distance, just where the waves are lapping against the soft sand. There, Aurelia will be able to see shapes not unlike manta ray (if she's ever seen one) diving and soaring through air and water both. The sunlight glistens off the green patches on their backs, and the largest few boast beautiful crystals which shimmer in the centre of their would-be foreheads.

"We wear them against our throats," Jack corrects, slanting a smirk in her direction. "But yeah, that's pretty much the plan. Only gonna get the ones with jewels, else it's pointless." He hops over a few pebbles, right about the time Aurelia is scrutinising his toes. The captain follows her gaze down, then slowly back up, his expression suggesting that she's the one being a little weird.

"We're out here to hunt flyin' plants that'll let us breathe underwater, an' that's what's interestin' to you," he drawls. "You're gonna need to get some hobbies, love."

So saying, he thrusts a spear and a net in her direction. "Throw net, stab the thing. Ain't hard."

eyes can't shine unless there's something burning bright behind

Aurelia chuckled at his reaction, shrugging her shoulders with a tilt of her head as if to say 'maybe I do'. Roaming the beach with the ornery captain of the Ark wasn't exactly her first idea of fun but, she would make do. She was quite used to people with attitudes like his. Actually, his wasn't that bad in comparison to a few people she could think of from her past. "I'm used to giant plants that come alive and swallow a human whole if he steps too close. What you're describing is pretty tame in comparison," she replied, "my home had its fair share of oddities but... nothing like those feet!" she added with a playful grin.

He tossed her a spear and a net, and she fumbled to catch them. She was examining the cloud manta for the jewels he was talking about. She had, indeed, seen them before. Well, okay, let's see how this goes. She glanced at Jack before she walked out into the waves so that they came up to her knees.

Aurelia waited a few minutes, standing very still and watching the manta movements carefully. Her green eyes fixated on one of them, one with a jewel on its forehead. It fell into a swimming-and-flying pattern around her, seemingly curious. It looped out of the water and back into it a few times before she was confident enough to predict its next move.

She threw the net with one hand, flinging it in such a way that it spread perfectly and captured its target with ease. It struggled against the ropes of the net and, pausing to adjust her grip, Aurelia speared it through. The mantas surrounding her recoiled away from her quickly. She looked over to see what Jack was doing, if he was having the same luck. She propped up the spear and began untangling the net from the manta, asking casually, "How many of these do you want?" she took a closer look at the jewel on its crest.

Aurelia

full speed ahead 'til I'm dead in the fast lane

"I can open jars with 'em," Jack boasts of his feet (he can't, but fucking who cares when this is the conversation), wading into the shallows after handing her the net and the spear. He can sense her in the periphery of his magic, getting to grips with the cloud manta the same as he is, except the captain stands quiet and still in the water, his eyes closed. He's tracking one of them as well, bejewelled and large, and its diving, flying trajectory is nearly within his grasp--

And Aurelia's voice hits the air, Jack blinking his eyes open to glance across at her. To his pleasant surprise, there's a manta wriggling in her net, and he nods his approval. "Three should do it," he says. "With an arm like that, you can--" THWAP.

Good job, Jack. Take your eye off the ball and get smacked by the wet fin of a low-flying cloud manta. The force of it throws him back into the water, in fact, and he manages to catch himself in his own net while he's at it. Smooth.

eyes can't shine unless there's something burning bright behind

Aurelia let him have the last word about his feet with a chuckle. Well, for now anyway. She hadn't been paying close attention to Jack as she focused on her own target. Yet, out of the corner of her eye, she viewed him from her peripheral. Were his eyes closed? Was that just her? Oh well, she had manta to catch. So her attentions were focused back on her assigned quarry.

When she made her catch obvious to Jack, catching his attention, she noticed him blinking his eyes. His approval was appreciated though, bringing a smile to her face. At least she got it right the first time, in spite of her newness to this. He was in the midst of further instructing her when something happened. Blinking in surprise, smile turning into a frown, Aurelia watched as a cloud manta smacked his face and he flopped back into the water. His own net had gotten him all tangled up.

Aurelia broke out into laughter, grinning. She waded over to him, feeling the ground beneath her feet carefully. Once by his side, she attempted to untangle him from the netting, holding the gear and the slain manta in one hand, (though he might've been putting up his own struggle, which would make it difficult). "What a good example you set, Jack!" she teased, smirking, "If you're gonna hunt with your eyes closed, you might as well use your feet, too. I mean, fuck it, right?"

"You know, I've been meaning to talk to you about something..." She added on a more serious note, at least once he was free of his net. Hunting the cloud manta wasn't turning out too difficult... on her part, anyways... so she figured it was a good time to bring up what she needed to tell him.

Aurelia

full speed ahead 'til I'm dead in the fast lane

Jack has to laugh as well, though from Aurelia's point of view it might sound a bit like swearing profusely and drowning a bit. He's managed to sit himself up, spear in hand as he tries to disentangle himself. Then she comes to help and damn it, he lets her, more interested in the little fucker who clocked him around the head. He tracks the cloud manta swooping lazily towards the water, and - honestly, it's just a petty bit of vengeance at this point - he throws his spear at it to make an angry point.

Only to everyone's surprise, it fucking hits, and the manta goes down into the water with a screech. No one is more puzzled by it than Jack, though it quickly melts into a smug smile as Aurelia gets him free. "You were sayin'? That's how it's done, love," he informs her, collecting up his net once she's freed him and dragging himself to his feet once more.

"Yeah? Spit it out then, 'fore you waste any more breath," he drawls, wading across to sling the net around the manta and collect his spear. That makes two - one more, and they can get out of the water.

eyes can't shine unless there's something burning bright behind

Aurelia lifted the net from his clothes and his face as he relented, chuckling softly all the way. When Jack lifted his spear to throw it angrily at the cloud manta, she recoiled a bit to give him room. She was definitely not expecting to see the spear pierce flesh, for the manta to get downed. Her expression said it all, with a surprised grin and raised brows. At his smug remark, she shrugged. She had to hand it to him, that was pretty good. "I'll never doubt your manta-hunting skills again."

She parted her net to hold the manta she had and followed him further into the waves to hold it open for his own catch. "Here," she said to draw his attention to it. Between the two of them, they still had another net for the third - and final - manta.

He sure didn't like to beat around the bush but, that's alright. She wasn't looking to do that anyway. Although she felt a twinge of doubt that made her hesitate for a moment. She stood back in the water, frowning.

"You remember when I first arrived. My clothes were covered in blood that wasn't mine... I was overwhelmed with how the world here works. It's so different here, Jack, you have no idea... I didn't want to tell you the truth," she swallowed nervously but pushed on, "I've been lying to you by avoiding it, and that's not my intent here. I know now that there's no chance I'll ever get back home," there was a real drop in her tone, waves splashing against her, pushing and pulling. "I wanted to talk to you about making more permanent arrangements. But before I ask that, I feel like I should tell you more about my past. I used to be a bounty hunter of magic-users. You call them Abandoned here but, where I'm from they were treated worse than that. I killed them for a living, Jack," she lifted her chin, looking out across the vast ocean as images of past missions flashed through her mind.

They'd ambush them, stalk them, treat them as though they were prey. Getting the drop on them was the best way, since they had the advantage with their abilities. It was sometimes as quick as the unsheathing of a blade, screams muffled by a throat filled with blood. Other times, it was a grueling torture for information. Spilling their blood in the hopes that they would spill what they knew. All that blood was on her hands.

She turned to look back at Jack, voice softer, "I was doing what I had to... I didn't know..." that I'd end up here, that things could've been different.

Aurelia

full speed ahead 'til I'm dead in the fast lane

"Wise decision," Jack says with a crooked grin, hauling himself to his feet and wading across to grab the spear still puncturing into the manta. He uses the weapon to heave the creature into Aurelia's waiting net. They'll have to wait until the others stop being so shit-scared before they can catch their third - they spook, surprisingly enough, when a member of their herd is impaled - and so that gives the duo ample time to chit-chat. And much to Jack's relief, his newest crew-member wastes little time.

That's not to say there isn't any preamble, which is especially dragging given that of course the captain already pretty much knows what it is she's going to say. But Jack has built his empire on patience and poker faces, and so he directs a quiet and considering frown down at the shallows as he listens, making a show of wringing out his damp shirt. The colourful methods of killing (swift and brutal, or slow and drawn out, he notes) dance along the fingers of his telepathy, and he lets a silence stretch between them before he responds. For all intents and purposes, he's chewing over what she's told him.

"Who else knows?" he says casually, after that. "Or rather, I should be asking who do you want to know? Saiden's Abandoned, as are a few others in the crew," he points out. Yeah, because Jack's all about taking care of other people.

eyes can't shine unless there's something burning bright behind

Jack's contemplative silence was almost worse than simply saying whatever he thought about the information. It was the first time she'd seen him stop and think for a moment, without blurting out some kind of witty quip. Aurelia thought back to her first night here. They'd made a deal. She remembered his face as he told her afterwards, 'Don't fuck this up'. The words felt all too knowing now, all too... close.

After they made their way back to the shallows to await the return of the cloud mantas, after he was done wringing out his shirt, he finally said something. Only, it wasn't quite what she expected so she didn't quite have an answer at first. Swallowing her nerves, she looked around as if the right words would conjure up from the waves splashing around them.

"When I went to speak with the governor here, I told him about my past in the hopes that he would know how to help me. But, he told me that getting back was impossible," she looked down as she recalled her meeting with Sunjata, the feelings of anger that had overwhelmed her at being informed that it was - essentially - a fruitless endeavor, that her copy would assume her role in that world.

She glanced back up, "I don't know. I don't think I'll lie to them if they really need to know but, I'd rather just-" she adjusted her grip on the net, "I don't think telling Saiden - or anyone like him - that I used to kill Abandoned will leave a very good impression..." she chuckled half-heartedly, though it was still short-lived, "I'm trying to leave that life behind me now. Whether I wanted to be here or not, I am. And I don't want people to think that I'm... that kind of person. I don't want to be that person anymore."

Aurelia

full speed ahead 'til I'm dead in the fast lane

Jack moves to perch on one of the smooth rocks in the shallows, the stone baked by the sun overhead, leaving it warm and pleasant on bare feet. (Less so for boots soaked in water, Aurelia). He's silent for another stretch, chewing over the implications, the things she wants and, most importantly, the things he can get out of the situation. "Whether or not you're that kind of person anymore, you've still got those skills," he says slowly, itching at the stubble on his chin.

"I'll make you a deal. This whole murderous past shit stays between us, on the condition that I can count on you when it comes to The Ark's work. Sure you've figured it out by now that we ain't your regular sea merchants." He slants a crooked smile her way. The crew practically scream scoundrels and crooks, and if Aurelia hasn't gotten the gist of their work just yet, give it a season and she'll know. "Kind of stuff we deal in, we could use someone with your background."

eyes can't shine unless there's something burning bright behind

Aurelia followed suit, climbing up onto one of the sun-soaked rocks jutting out of the water opposite to Jack. Water bubbled from her boots as she propped them up. She glanced down at them with a shrug. It's time for a new pair anyway. His silence, again, brought a nervous hitch to her breath. Though it could've easily been caused by the chill from getting soaked. Fresh goosebumps raised up from her skin as her hazel eyes met his crooked smile. She looked away and bit her lip.

Had she really figured that out? Maybe, she probably knew from the beginning that Jack wasn't exactly the most honorable and, by association, neither was his crew. He was decent enough to offer her a place to stay and in exchange she helped with the ship, but beyond that... she didn't pay attention to things that didn't involve her, keeping her head low, trying not to piss anyone off. Now that she was asking for a more official position, it only made sense that he would need her to be made aware.

When she had this proposal in mind, she figured maybe she could become the Ark's navigator or something. You know, learn a new trade. Uncertain eyes wandered back to Jack's lean, grizzled face, her brows bearing down and her mouth in a straight line.

Maybe I was always meant to be... this; cutthroat. My hands are never going to be clean no matter what I do from this point... She couldn't be soft before; life's harsh and the paths she walked seemed especially so at times. It was at a point where she felt bitter about it. As if it was somehow personal, as if the cosmic beings that be had it out for her. Or maybe I am grievously unlucky.

So as she stared across at Jack, she knew it was one of those moments in life that defines the path ahead. Whatever choice she made, whether it was to accept or decline his offer, would have its own ripple effect. Jack's keeping her past a secret was preferable, as well. She somehow didn't feel cornered, though. Of course this was the offer he was giving her, not that she could blame him.

"Fuckin' Jack," she muttered into the breeze.

She sighed, muscles taut, "I don't care that you're smugglers. I don't. But I want more than grunt work. I can help you with.. whatever it is you have in mind. I'll kill for you, if that's what you're asking," the words came out easier, more willingly, than she expected them to. Her gaze turned sharper as she sought out his own, "I can prove my worth and my loyalty. If I need to, I will. But I want to be more than a glorified guard dog." She crossed her arms and raised a quizzical brow at him. Those were her terms; a promise of something more. Whether it was now or, eventually, later. But she had no intention of settling.

Aurelia

full speed ahead 'til I'm dead in the fast lane

"Fuckin' Jack," he echoes, though he sounds a lot more breezy about it, grinning out into the waves and leaning back on his hands. There might even be a hint of pride in his tone; he knows he's a dick, and he knows he's got the upper hand in this situation. No reason to deny it. Still, there's a prickle of something in his expression as he hears navigator in her thoughts, a falter to his smile as he remembers the clever hands and even cleverer brain of his last navigator.

But he doesn't dwell on it - doesn't let himself - the captain glancing across at Aurelia as she lays out her terms. "A career ladder?" He snorts. "Sorry, the role of captain is already taken. What lofty aspirations d'you have, Miss Too-Good-For-Grunt-Work?" Raising his eyebrows at her, he wonders if she even knows how ships work, let alone what she wants to be other than a glorified guard dog. The ball is in her court - he's listening, for now.

eyes can't shine unless there's something burning bright behind

Aurelia pursed her lips to one side unhappily. That wasn't quite the message she sought to get across to him. She shook her head back and forth slowly, exasperated. Damp hair curled around her temples in a dark mess. "I don't want to take anything from anyone, least of all the person that's giving me a job, a home, and.. essentially, a fucking purpose. You've given me a bit of clarity among all this chaos and confusion in my life. And neither of us are really the mushy type so I'll just leave it at that," she paused, meeting his look with a softer expression this time.

Something somber and sad clouded her eyes. Dark thoughts lingered in the back of her mind, anxieties surrounding a loss of purpose, a loss of focus. She didn't know the crew very well. Hell, she didn't know anyone in Caido very well. But she was willing to devote herself to this group of smugglers and misfits, even if it was only because she had no fucking clue what else to do with her life at that point. Nothing could be worse than being alone.

"I don't want to get stuck doing the same things forever, alright? Just consider that this is-" she glanced back over the ocean's waves as she finished up her point, cutting it short when she spotted a few cloud mantas meandering back towards the shallows. She shifted her weight to crouch down on the rock, lifting her spear.

With one fluid motion, it impaled its target. She jumped back into the waters to retrieve it, net in tow. She lifted the net up out of the water to reveal three cloud mantas, each adorned with a crystal at the center of their forehead. Water dripped from her extended arm as she closed the gap to hand him the net full of mantas.

"This is my way of saying I want to be a valuable member of your... business," a smirk pulled at one corner of her mouth, "whatever it takes."

Aurelia